I’ve had the Benz off the road for a couple of weeks to give it some major loving: From fresh ball joints and servicing to a top to bottom clean-up and a new MOT, it’s had the works. I’m pleased to say all the effort I’ve put in to keeping it clean over winter and all the waxoil I covered it in in the autumn has paid off; It’s literally not deteriorated one bit through the harsher months (though I did take it off the road when we had the really bad snow) and here’s the proof:

Based on my recent turn-over of daily drivers the Benz is a long-termer and I’ve got no plans of letting it go yet. The only caveat to this one is my job has moved and gone (for the most part) is the 100 miles per day motorway commute and I now have 44 miles of country lanes….This means the KP and the Herald will be getting some use over the Summer, but does it also mean I can finally have something really old as my daily…4-gears…? Really?

With the Herald finished in time for the annual Race Retro Show we’d hatched a plan to shoot the car in and around the site where it was held. After an early start I arrived to shoot the show itself with the RC crew arriving stylishly afternoon-ish. We busted out the pics outside an awesome looking garage/ barn (think South London back-street garage in ’69) and made it back into the warm for a lap of the show and a big lunch: No messin’

The issue is out on the 14th March so keep your eyes peeled; it’s a special edition too, but I won’t give any more away for now…

Mojo. It’s escaped me totally for the last 3 months, leaving me locked inside with the heating on, the cars put away for the winter and the curtains shut. Call me in Spring. Well, that was the plan, but slowly, over the last few weeks I’ve started getting back into it culminating in to today: a (relative) marathon of spanner twirling and garage based action.

A master plan has been hatched to shoot the Herald for Retro Cars at the end of Feb so I’ve been pulling together the finishing touches: Christmas brought me Ram pipes and with a bit of cutting of the inner arch they were on.

I’ve bought a set of low profile mesh filters as well; I’m not brave enough to run open…The carbs are due a rebuild and I’m just waiting on the kit and I can give them the full Dave Vizard gas flow treatment while I’m there…

The exhaust has always hung low on the Herald and frankly looked like is was made for a totally different car. I decided to “fix” this and in my book of definitions “fix” means make it louder at the same time. The back box was binned leaving me with a nice easy routing. Some stainless pipe was ordered and cut about to fit.

The pipe that arrived, while stainless, wasn’t exactly the shiniest…in fact it looked like mild. This turned out to be fortuitous giving me the opportunity to add a bit of texture with sandpaper before I polished it; the Herald isn’t some show car, it’s a ’60s gentleman’s racer and as such would not be sporting a chrome pipe!

Before & After

I used the original mounts and new, period hangars and hung it all up: More ground clearance, more noise, less weight. But mainly more noise, which is a good thing.

Next: Oil cooler mount was taken off and remade (plug welded instead of bolted) and painted:

And that covers today’s action. Not long now and it’ll be back on the road: Race Retro here we come!

I came home from a week away to a sizeable parcel…I’d not ordered anything…wasn’t expecting anything…and it was addressed from EA..?

Oh, yeah! Without so much as a note or warning the Awesome Chaps at the big S-H had sent me out a little (BIG) parcel including a load of stickers, keyring and The Photo book of the year!

I’m guessing people with feature cars/ supported them at shows all got a copy! It’s beautifully put together, full of stunning images and a nice way to spend a couple of hours with a coffee. I would say get a copy, but looking at the store I think they’ve all gone; make sure volume two is on your shopping list for next year though.

The KP survives another year and is safely tucked up at my Folk’s house for the winter. Not exactly sure where this summer has gone, but another tax disk has expired and a I feel like I never really got out in the old girl much. I’ve got a few ideas for stuff to do over winter but for now the Herald is coming up to mine for some (outlaw) work over the next few months. 2013: Less rain please!